You can only do this with a freshly carved pumpkin! Do not use on a pumpkin that has been carved and sitting out for several days.

To bake a fresh 6 to 7 pound pumpkin, halve the pumpkin crosswise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place halves, hollow side down, in a large baking pan covered with aluminum foil and add a little water. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until fork-tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells and puree, a little at time, in food processor or blender. Mix with a little salt.

To freeze pumpkin puree. Put 1-2 cups in freezer bags along with spices and use in pies.

To use pumpkin puree for recipes: Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth or a flour sack dish towel and let the pumpkin sit to drain out the extra moisture BEFORE cooking with it. Pumpkin is very moist, so in order for your recipe to come out correctly, you MUST strain it.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Boil seeds in water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt. Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees. Stir after 30 minutes. Bake 1/2-1 hour more or until crunchy.

Beat together with electric mixer until smooth (It will be really thick). Add 1 cup mini chocolate chips and stir. Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups and spray with non-stick spray. Use an ice cream scoop to put batter into muffin cups (I can get 24 muffins from one box of mix). Bake at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes. Cool and frost if desired. My family likes them just as they are when they are hot from the oven.

I have made pumpkin muffins with white cake mix and yellow cake mix too. They have around 120 calories apiece with the mini chocolate chips and are virtually fat free. If you are on weight watchers, they only count as 1 point.

This is a fabulous way to sneak some vitamin A rich veggies in on the kids. Just don’t let them see you put the pumpkin into the muffins and they will never know it is there. These are more moist than very expensive name brand double chocolate chip muffins.

About the authors:
Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt, by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Just as we do each and every Tuesday, we are proud to bring you this week’s printable grocery coupons from Coupons.com, Coupon Network, Target, and Redplum, plus coupons you can save directly to your loyalty card from Cellfire and SavingStar.

Here are this week’s all new printable grocery coupons from Coupons.com.

Cellfire coupons are unique in that you click through to the Cellfire site, and when you “clip” the coupons you want, they are added to your store loyalty card – so you don’t have to print anything. Yay!

Click here to access CellFire Coupons below:
The offers below are
available at Kroger/Kroger subsidiaries, Safeway subsidiaries (excluding
Dominick’s), Shop ‘n Save, and Lowe’s Foods, and Foodtown from 10/18 -
10/31 and they expire on 11/14.

PB Rolled Pie Crusts
Save $.50

Save $0.50 when you buy TWO packages of Pillsbury Rolled Refrigerated
Pie Crusts.

PB Sweet Rolls Save $.40

Save $0.40 when you buy any TWO Pillsbury Sweet Rolls OR Grands! Sweet
Rolls.

Pillsbury Crescents Save $.50

Save $0.50 when you buy any TWO Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls.

PB Italian Meal Brd Save $.40

Save $0.40 when you buy any TWO Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Crust,
Breadsticks, Loaves or Dinner Rolls.

(Sign up for SavingStar to get coupons that you can save directly to your store loyalty card. (No printing.)
SavingStar is currently the only national totally paperless grocery coupon service. These coupons will work at over 100 chains nationwide – at more than 24,000 stores. All the eCoupons are linked to store loyalty cards so saving only takes a couple minutes.
Sign up and save, starting todayhere)

Easy DIY Costumes
Have some more time to play with but still want to save money? Use items you have around the house to make one of these costumes, and your child will be the shining star of the Halloween parade.

The average American family spends over $100 per year on Halloween goodies. As your kids drag you through aisles full of ghosts and goblins, the scariest thing about Halloween is threatening to leave bite marks in your pocketbook. No wonder so many moms flee screaming from the store… It can be much less expensive and a lot more fun to devise your own chilling creations. Here are a few tips that you can use to stave off the greenback gremlins and exercise your creative muscle. It won’t hurt a bit! These and other free frugal tips are available at www.LivingOnADime.com.

Place Vaseline in a bowl. Add food coloring. Blend with a toothpick. Stir in a pinch of cocoa to make a darker blood color. Separate tissue. Using 1 layer, tear a 2×3 inch piece and place at wound site. Cover with petroleum jelly and mold into the shape of a wound. The center should be lower than the sides. Fill the center with the red petroleum jelly mixture. Sprinkle center with some cocoa. Sprinkle a little around the edges of the wound to make darker.

Glass Jack-o-Lantern- Outline a pumpkin face on a spaghetti or pickle jar with black paint. The paint around the outside of it with orange paint. Place a candle inside for a jack-o-lantern.

Now here are some fun Halloween Party Games

Halloween Guess It Game

In this game, you challenge the participants to reach into mystery boxes filled with creepy things and try to guess what each item is. The person with the most correct answers wins the game. An example is if you want them to guess “grapes”, you might try to confuse them by saying, “I think it’s eyeballs…”

Cut a hole in the top of a shoe box or laundry box for each item to be used. Cover the box with black spray paint. Decorate each box with pumpkins or spiders for a more festive flavor. Place the following items inside, one per box. Be sure to place enough of each item so the guests can adequately “feel” the guts.

Eyeballs – grapes or peeled cherry tomatoes

Intestines- Cooked Spaghetti

Skin- oil a piece of plastic bag

Brains- scrambled eggs

Hair- an old clown wig

Bones- thoroughly washed chicken bones placed in some sand

Vomit-chunky salsa

Fingers-hot dogs cut into finger sized pieces

Teeth- corn nuts, pine nuts or popcorn

Have a Pumpkin Hunt

Hide mini pumpkins like you would Easter Eggs. Let the kids find and decorate them. For small children use glue sticks with construction paper cut-outs for decorations.

Edible Slime

Pour lime gelatin into a glass bowl. After it is partially set, add gummy worms. Chill until lightly set. Then serve slopped all over the plate.

For millions of Americans, being out of work one more day is an all too familiar situation. The jobs that people once had have been eliminated, bills are due, part-time jobs aren’t paying well, families need to eat, and unemployment is running out. For those who were the bread-winners, guilt, failure, hopelessness and stress can feel overwhelming. So how do you take care of yourself if you find yourself in this predicament?

Don’t Let Your Career Define You

Too many times we allow our job or lack thereof define our worth and value. When we are out of work, we question who we are because we have placed our value in a dollar sign. When you feel this way, look around and see the other areas in your life where you add value – your kids, your spouse, your family… See how you are important to people around you in more than just your job and what they love about you. If you don’t see those things, then see if there are ways that you can add meaning to the lives of others. Furthermore, if you are in a relationship where you feel that people are putting a price on your worth, look at the relationship, get some help with it if you can, and if it isn’t working, it may be time to re-evaluate.

It is easy to get into a place of feeling sorry for ourselves when we feel down and out. Sometimes our thought patterns can keep us stuck in this. If you are stuck in these thought patterns, check your thoughts and redirect them to more positive thoughts.

Just Keep Swimming…

Do something positive every day to keep your mind and brain working. People out of work sometimes have a hard time getting out of bed, and that look at the Help-wanted section can be a dreadful reminder of your situation. Read, learn, do something to help look for work or advance your situation. Is it time to go back to school to get educated in something new? What hobbies do you have that you can engage in? If money is an issue, can you find a free hobby? Volunteer your time if you can. Giving to others can feel empowering and you never know whom you will meet or what you will learn along the way. Worry and stress can become quicksand for many, so find a way to keep active.

Exercise Every Day

Exercise releases endorphins. These can help you feel better. This does not just mean to piddle around the weight room and do a few curls. This means do some work. You need to get your heart pumping. Running, weightlifting, aerobics, Pilates… whatever you may enjoy that can get you and/or keep you in shape – this is critical to your physical and emotional health. Being in shape can also help in the interview process, as it can contribute to your sense of confidence, and appearance often matters in job interviews.

Sometimes We All Need a Hand

Sometimes people feel too “proud” to ask for help. Whether it is needing emotional support, part-time help, therapy… we live in a world of other people. Many people feel happy to help. Never think that you have to do everything on your own.

I put the quotes around “proud”, because that is what people call it. I call it arrogance. Pride is when we feel good about who we are. No matter what is going on around us, we can still feel proud of our efforts and who we are. Arrogance is a shield of false pride. It hides shame, guilt, inadequacy… When people can’t ask for help when they need it, it is often because they are hiding these emotions. Arrogance can bring down the people around you as well. You and your family can suffer.

Remember that you are not alone. So many people are going through the same situation. I believe that there is always something to learn in every situation and that life happens for us not to us. If there is something more you can do, then take a hard look at yourself and do it. If you are doing your best, then feel proud of your efforts and keep going. Appreciate those around you and let that love in. It’s the most important ingredient.

About the author: Erik Fisher, PhD, aka Dr. E…, is a licensed psychologist, author and contributing correspondent on The Better Show. Dr. E… has also been featured NBC, CBS and FOX, and is a regular expert on CNN. Visit him at www.DrEPresents.com.

Just as we do each and every Tuesday, we are proud to bring you this week’s printable grocery coupons from Coupons.com, Coupon Network, Target, and Redplum, plus coupons you can save directly to your loyalty card from Cellfire and SavingStar.

Cellfire coupons are unique in that you click through to the Cellfire site, and when you "clip" the coupons you want, they are added to your store loyalty card – so you don't have to print anything. Yay!

Congrats to Sara B. – who won our What to Expect When Giveaway! Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways...

I have great respect for the What to Expect book series. Each book, in turn, guided me through what could have been a pretty intimidating batch of years with babies and young children.

As an expectant mom, What to Expect When You’re Expecting helped me to understand the changes that my body was going through in a straightforward and helpful style. I was so nervous and excited for the birth of my first child that I spent a lot of time reading and rereading chapters of the first two What to Expect books.

And here’s a funny fact: I once used one of my What to Expect books to diagnose my husband’s appendicitis. (It was the closest book at hand with trusted medical advice in the middle of the night when he was overcome with wrenching abdominal pain. Apparently, appendicitis exhibits the same in toddlers and men in their mid 30s.)

WhattoExpect.com – the online version of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting book series – has generously offered to give a lucky Momscape reader the first three books in the series:

There are multiple ways to enter, but you must comment below after you’ve done these items because that’s how we’ll choose a winner (at random). You needn’t leave a separate comment for each action. Just tell me which of the items you did in a single comment. Also, comment moderation is turned ‘on,’ so there might be a slight delay before your comment appears below.

WAYS TO ENTER

1. Register for your free customized newsletter at WhattoExpect.com (Click this link. Signup form is on the right, under the heading “Track Your Baby’s Growth Today!”): 1 entry

8. Tweet about this contest with hashtag “#momscape” : 1 entry
(You can even RT this one: New #Momscape #Giveaway: Win 3 books from the What to Expect series! http://tinyurl.com/3j4t3ja )

9. Blog about this giveaway on your own blog: 1 entry

Contest ends October 25, 2011. One winner will be drawn on October 26, 2011 using random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to email notification, after which a new winner will be drawn. *No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest open to US Residents only, 18 and over. Official contest rules are here.

And if you – or someone you know – would like to sponsor a contest on Momscape, we want to hear from you! Email susie at momscape.com

Tiny Revolutionary has just launched its “Giving Tee” line of tees fashioned with charitable giving in mind.

All of the styles you see below are available in all sizes, from infant to an adult size XL. They are produced sweat-shop free and with non-toxic and waterbased inks.

“We want to make super cool fashion tees that mean something,” says founder BreeAnne Clodus. “Whether it’s to promote education in countries affected by the AIDS virus or provide musical instruments and lessons to homeless kids, our goal is to make the world a better place for all, through enriching the lives of our kids.”

Check ‘em out:

Save a Child’s Heart: provides life-saving heart surgeries to babies and children in poor and war torn countries. $44 retail price with $20 donation with a sale of only 500 shirts that can fully fund a child’s surgery and save a life.

One Village at a Time: to provide education and support to struggling communities in Africa, particularly those hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. $30 retail price with $10 donation that provides food, medical care and education to children orphaned and infected by the AIDS virus.

Hands to Hearts International: makes the world a better by sharing critical knowledge about early childhood development to communities compromised by poverty and conflict. $35 retail price with $20 donation that pays for all materials to conduct a thorough training session for an entire village of caregivers, who eventually save lives as orphanages who receive this training report a massive decline in infant mortality and illness.

Tiny Revolutionary also has a “Tiny Bucks” program for charity. When you make a purchase, you earn one dollar per item and you get to choose the recipient (from a short list of approved partners) at checkout.

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